Jimmy Carter arrives in US with freed American

Former US president Jimmy Carter arrived back in the US Friday together with an American man who had been imprisoned in North Korea since the beginning of the year.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, hugged his family as he exited the plane at Boston's Logan Airport. Neither Gomes nor Carter made any comments to reporters on the tarmac.

Carter had flown to Pyongyang Wednesday to lobby for the release of Gomes, who was arrested in January and sentenced in April to eight years of hard labour for illegally entering North Korea from China. North Korea said the release was made on humanitarian grounds.

During his visit, Carter met with North Korea's number two leader, Kim Yong Nam, and reportedly held talks on North Korea's disputed nuclear programme.

The former president's visit had not been sanctioned by the US government, though State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley welcomed Gomes' release.